The Road to Safwan: The 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry in the 1991 ...

200 The Road to Safwan
brigade officers in armored vehicles, along with interpreters, to
meet the Iraqi delegation at a contact point. They would demand
that the Iraqis surrender their weapons and transport
them in HMMWVs to the cease-fire site. By design, the route
would take them through a part of the damaged town of
Safwan, and then out to the airfield, past forty-three Bradleys
and M1A1 tanks lined up on the south side of the road. With
Apache helicopters and jet fighters in the air, the intention was
to impress the Iraqi delegation with the combat power available
to the American forces. In addition to providing constant patrolling
of the security perimeter by air and ground, the
squadron provided vehicles for the airfield display and also an
escape vehicle for General Schwarzkopf should something go
wrong at the site. 52
The squadron commander directed CPT Bills to provide the
Bradley for Schwarzkopf’s potential use, and he selected his
own track, B66. As directed by the corps choreographers, Bills
backed it next to the negotiation tent and placed the squadron’s
colors alongside the B Troop guidon on either side of the track’s
lowered ramp. Early on March 3, as Wilson and some of his officers
gathered around Bills’s track, MG Rhame and LTG
Franks came over and praised the squadron for its superb performance
over the last week. Franks then asked Wilson to join
him inside the tent during the cease-fire negotiations. Soon
General Schwarzkopf, who had flown to the airfield with
Franks but had gone in another direction, also came over and
congratulated Wilson and his troopers. Everyone was all smiles
as the commanding general shook each officer’s and soldier’s
hand, thanking them for the great job they did. Of course, this
was all captured by the news media and squadron officers
found themselves in Life Magazine, other publications, and on
television for years after. 53
Soon they received word that the Iraqi representatives had
arrived at the contact point. The soldiers immediately manned
their vehicles and awaited their arrival. Soon the squadron
members saw the AH-64s that were flying above the delegation
and monitored its progress by watching the approaching helicopters.
Then the procession, two M1A1 tanks, two Bradleys
and eight HMMWVs, and two Apaches ten feet off the ground,